Page 16 of Galadon
I growled. Nothing made me angrier than other dragons trying to take what was mine. There could be no other reason for them being here. Not far from the lake's eastern bank were powerful artifacts I’d been guarding all my life. No one was supposed to know about those objects, but occasionally, dragons came close enough to my border to detect the magic emanating from them. It sometimes beckoned them closer.
To this day, I had no idea what they were exactly or why they drew others. One was buried deep in the earth with magical protections I couldn’t unravel, and the other sat inert on the ground and unbreakable. A mystical force I couldn’t describe drove me to protect the place they rested at all costs.
I soared back and forth along the border, hating that I could do nothing. They outnumbered me, so crossing onto theirside would only worsen matters. My magic and strength were more powerful on my land because I’d bonded with it over the centuries.
Not wanting to wait any longer, I called a storm overhead, concentrating the darkest clouds over their position. Unfortunately, I couldn’t direct the lightning, but it did give them pause when a bolt shot down nearby and split a tree. Thecrackreverberated through the air, filling it with a static charge.
Feeding the storm energy, I built it on the other side of my wards so that the wind swirled and pushed at the dragons in the air, forcing their wings to beat harder. Even the one on the ground had to pause and brace himself.
The Takaran had determined glints in their red eyes as they attempted to ignore the tempest around them and continued to batter my wards. I snarled at their refusal to relent. In all my time on my land, I’d never faced so many dragons alone. Somehow, there’d always been someone else around whenever a larger force tried to infiltrate my territory. I didn’t know how I’d take down seven at once, but I’d find a way.
Pain exploded in my head—an unfortunate magical side effect that came with having a warning system. I winced and growled in agony, barely able to maintain my position in the air as I unsteadily beat my wings. The wards began crumbling with audible cracking noises, and an entire section fell. Wind rushed inside from the storm to pummel me.
Pushing past my discomfort, I dove toward the dragon on the ground, knowing he’d be the most exhausted. Meanwhile, I didn’t stop feeding the storm, so the swirling gusts continued to pummel the Takaran in the air and push them away. I wouldn’t be able to split my focus for that much longer, though.
Before the green dragon—smaller than the others—could do more than bare his teeth, I ripped my talons across his neck. Blood sprayed. He snarled and snapped at me. I punched him in the snout, crunching it beneath my solid strike. To protect his face from further damage, he ducked his head, but I wrapped an arm around his throat and jerked hard. His spinal column broke.
As he fell limply from my loosened hold, dead before he hit the ground, one of the Takaran attacked me from behind. This one was a female. She bit into my tail, sending shots of pain through me.
I spun in a circle until she lost her grip and sailed several dozen feet toward a tree, slamming into it. The other five bore down on me and would reach my location in less than a minute. My mind raced to formulate a plan for how to fight them as the female staggered onto her feet, moving unsteadily to attack again. She was a relentless one.
Lightning shot down from the clouds, forking into three prongs that struck several of the Takaran at once. It killed them, sending their burned bodies plummeting to the ground. I was never so lucky for such a thing to happen on its own, and I only knew one person who could have guided those bolts so precisely. A short distance to the west, a red dragon flew with a woman in his arms. She held her hands up as she worked to bring another bolt down to hit the female dragon who was almost upon me again. I felt the static in the air as it struck the Takaran and drilled a hole straight through her body.
Annoyed to be saved by a slayer, it took me a moment to regain my equilibrium. I forced myself to concentrate on the remaining two dragons. Shooting into the air, I reached one of them a hundred feet from the ground. Our limbs tangled with him biting into my shoulder.
I wrenched him off as his sharp incisors tore through my muscles. The pain was intense, but it only fed my rage. I jerked his head up and snapped my teeth around his neck, crunching down with the full force of my powerful jaws until all the vertebrae in his throat cracked. The Takaran’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell as I let go.
Searching for the last intruder, I found him in the sky down to my left with Rayna balancing on top of him. She gripped the spikes along his spine tightly as she slowly made her way up the dragon’s back toward his neck with a dagger in her right hand. The crazy woman was going to kill him and then go down with the body.
Fear almost froze me. Though she’d survive a fifty-foot fall, she’d likely break many bones. I refused to let her get injured on my behalf. Flapping my wings hard, I rushed to grab her, but seconds before I reached the slayer, she stabbed the Takaran in the back of his head. His wings collapsed. I pushed harder, grabbing Rayna just as the dragon began to plummet.
Are you insane?I asked, holding her tightly.
It had been so long since I’d touched her that I had to use all my control to keep from nuzzling and scenting her. She felt perfect in my arms like all those months ago. It only angered me further that she’d put me in a position where I had to work even harder to resist her.
She turned her head to glance up at me.No. It was just the easiest way to take the dragon down since Titan couldn’t fight him while holding me.
You did enough with the lightning. I could have easily finished the final Takaran without your assistance,I said, snarling at her.
She smiled.But then you wouldn’t have gotten this perfect excuse to hold me. We both know you could have let me fall, and I would have lived.
I squeezed her gently.You would have been seriously injured.
Your mother could have fixed anything wrong with me.
Perhaps.I narrowed my eyes at her.But it would have required you staying here several days to mend multiple broken bones, and I’d rather have you gone as soon as possible.
Hurt flashed in her eyes before she covered it.Yes. We wouldn’t want you to endure my company any longer than necessary. You’re welcome, by the way.
Guilt ate at me for hurting her feelings, but what else could I do? We could never be together again. If she were a shifter, I’d gladly take her as my mate. She was everything I could possibly want in a female, except for her being a slayer. A very strong one with sorceress powers, which only made matters worse. The woman had too much power if she lost control.
I landed, letting go of Rayna as soon as I was sure she stood steady enough. Steeling my resolve, I stepped back.How did you know to come here when you did?
She spun around and spoke aloud this time. “I was at the Taugud fortress to ask them for help with the Kandoran nest. Aidan said it would be a few weeks before he could have a force put together and that I needed to ask the Faegud for extra warriors because he couldn’t give me enough. Anyway, Kade insisted that Titan and I needed to come straight to you first.”
Ah, yes, Aidan’s uncle. He was a strange male, but he had a knack for seeing the future. I could do it for short-termpredictions, too, but not for myself. I almost never got a warning when I was about to face trouble, which was rather annoying.
I need to repair my wards,I said.
